Banquet event order (BEO): meaning, template and a filled example

Banquet event order meaning, and how it differs from a contract

The event contract sets the commercial deal: dates, minimums, deposits, cancellation. The BEO is the operational detail for one function inside that deal. A three-day conference has one contract and a dozen BEOs: breakfast, the morning break, lunch, the awards dinner, each with its own room, times, menu and count. A wedding usually has one or two, for the ceremony and the reception.

In US hotels the BEO normally carries a billing section too, so that accounting can build the final invoice from the signed sheets. Because clients sign it, a BEO settles arguments later. The chef made salmon because the signed BEO said salmon.

What your banquet event order must show in the United States

What goes on a BEO, section by section

The header holds the BEO number and revision, event name, date, room, the client and on-site contact with a mobile number, and the sales manager. Then the timeline, minute by minute where it matters: room access for vendors, doors, cocktails, dinner service, speeches, last call and load-out.

Food and beverage comes next, course by course with counts per entree, special meals by name or seat, and bar details down to the brands in the package. Setup describes table shapes, linens, the stage, dance floor and head table, ideally with a floor plan attached. Audio-visual, staffing levels, and billing close the sheet.

• BEO number, revision number and date issued
• Event name, room, date and times
• Client and on-site contact with mobile number
• Guaranteed count and expected count
• Menu by course with entree counts and special meals
• Bar package, brands and bar hours
• Room setup, floor plan, AV and staffing
• Billing: prices, service charge, tax and deposits
• Client signature and date

BEO #2417 rev 3: annual awards dinner, Midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom

Thursday awards dinner for 220 guests in a Midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom, cocktails 6.30 pm, dinner 7.15 pm, awards 8.30 pm, last call 10.45 pm

• Guarantee 220, set 228 (3.5% overset); billed on guarantee or actual, whichever is higher.
• Entree split: 128 short rib, 74 halibut, 18 risotto; 6 named allergy meals on the seating plan.
• Service charge is taxable in New York because it is not a separately stated gratuity paid entirely to staff.

A filled BEO example, field by field

Here is the awards dinner from the sample on this page, written out the way a Midtown hotel would issue it on the Monday of event week. Copy the structure, not the numbers. The point of each line is that a cook, a captain or a bookkeeper can act on it without phoning sales.

Notice what the sheet does not say. It never says "approximately 220" or "usual setup". Vague words on a BEO turn into 30 extra plates or a missing lectern at 6.25 pm.

Allergens on the BEO: the nine the FDA names

Federal law lists nine major food allergens: milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame. Sesame became the ninth on 1 January 2023 under the FASTER Act. Labelling rules apply to packaged food, not your plated dinner, but guests and planners now expect the same nine to be tracked at a banquet.

Put every declared allergy on the BEO against a name and a table and seat number, not just a count. "Two nut-free" gets lost between the pass and table 14. "Table 14, seat 3, Dana Ruiz, tree nut allergy, alternate dessert" does not. Ask the chef to initial the allergen block during the BEO meeting so the kitchen has owned it, not just received it.

Counts, guarantees and the 3 percent overset

A BEO carries two numbers: the guarantee the client pays for and the number the kitchen prepares. Many US venues cook and set for a small overset above the guarantee, often 3 to 5 percent, so a few surprise guests can still eat. Write both numbers down and say which one is billed. Clients who see "set 206" next to "guarantee 200" will otherwise ask why they paid for 200.

The guarantee deadline, usually 72 hours to a week out, should match the contract exactly. After that the BEO is locked and changes go on a revision.

Revisions and the BEO meeting

Every change produces a new revision number, and the old copies go in the bin, not back on the kitchen wall. Most hotels hold a weekly BEO meeting where sales walks the kitchen, banquets and engineering through the coming week line by line. Independent venues often skip it and pay for that in last-minute surprises. Even ten minutes on the Thursday before a Saturday wedding catches most of them.

Print the revision number in large type on the top corner of every page. When the banquet captain sees rev 2 on the station copy and rev 3 on the kitchen copy at 5 pm, the difference is obvious before the first plate goes out, not after.

BEO in catering vs hotel banquets: same sheet, different risks

In a hotel, the BEO hangs off a function room the hotel controls. The catering or convention sales manager writes it, the banquet captain runs the floor from it, and the totals are checked against the food and beverage minimum in the group contract. Tables, linen, china and the liquor license all belong to the house, so the BEO can say "rounds of 10, ivory linen" and stop there.

A caterer's BEO has to describe a building the caterer does not own. It needs the site address and truck access route, who supplies power and how many circuits, whether there is running water near the prep tent, the rental company's delivery and pickup windows, and the local cut-off for amplified music. Add the name and mobile number of whoever controls the site on the day, because the couple or the planner will be busy.

Caterer BEOs also carry a packing list: every chafer, fuel can, Cambro and rack of glassware leaving the kitchen, checked out and checked back in. It sounds dull. It is the difference between a $40 loss and a $900 rental replacement bill.

The billing block: service charge, gratuity and tax

The billing section repeats the per-person prices, the room fee, the service charge and the tax rate. Label the service charge exactly as your invoice will. The IRS treats an automatic gratuity as a service charge, so the portion paid to staff is wages. States add their own layer: New York City taxes a service charge on a catered event at 8.875 percent unless it is a separately stated gratuity paid entirely to staff, while Texas does not tax a labelled gratuity of 20 percent or less. The example on this page uses New York.

Banquet event order questions from the United States